Dennis to vote on school change

The tradition of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District students attending class in their hometowns may be about to change.

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By CYNTHIA McCORMICK

capecodtimes.com

By CYNTHIA McCORMICK

Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By CYNTHIA McCORMICK
Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

SOUTH DENNIS — The tradition of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District students attending class in their hometowns may be about to change.

An article on the Dennis special town meeting warrant Feb. 27 would allow school officials to send students in grades 4-8 across town lines.

Ezra H. Baker Elementary School in West Dennis, Marguerite E. Small Elementary School in West Yarmouth and Station Avenue Elementary School in South Yarmouth would continue to serve students in kindergarten through third grade from their own towns.

The change in the regional school district agreement means school officials could maximize their resources while dealing with declining enrollment, Dennis-Yarmouth Superintendent Carol Woodbury said.

Students in grades 4 and 5 from both Yarmouth and Dennis would attend Nathaniel H. Wixon Middle School in South Dennis.

Grades 6 and 7 would go to the Mattacheese Middle School in West Yarmouth, and the eighth-graders would move to Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in South Yarmouth, Woodbury said.

There are 3,140 students, including pre-kindergarten, in the district this year, Woodbury said.

The enrollment figure as of Oct. 1 is the same as last year, she said. But it represents a decline of more than 600 students from six years ago, according to statistics from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

School populations have been shrinking across the Cape, but Dennis-Yarmouth also has struggled with the loss of students to school choice programs and private and charter schools following contentious budget override proceedings.

The regional district has been wooing students back with innovative programs, including extended school days, expansion of foreign language programs and a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program for eighth-graders at the high school, Woodbury said.

Consolidating students from both towns in common classrooms would allow the district to preserve its new programs while maintaining — and possibly expanding — music, athletics and after-school activities, Bergeron said.

"There's all kinds of good things going on here," he said. "We're doing some neat stuff."

The consolidation plan also would prevent schools in Yarmouth, which has more students, from becoming too full while Dennis schools are at less than capacity, Bergeron said. "This will balance it out."

Town meetings in both towns must approve any changes in the regional school district agreement, Woodbury said. She said elementary school students now attend school in their own towns, unless they opt for the school choice program.

Yarmouth town meeting already approved the changes that would allow school officials to send older elementary students across town lines, Woodbury said.

The Laurence C. MacArthur Elementary School in South Yarmouth is scheduled to close in June, saving the school district $165,000 that town officials agree should be put back into educational programs, Woodbury said.

The school district is asking for a 2½ percent increase in the budget for next year — meaning there will be no need for an override.

Currently Yarmouth and Dennis students in grades 9-12 attend Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.

But a pilot STEM project at the school has attracted 126 eighth-grade students from both Dennis and Yarmouth, leaving only 38 eighth-graders at the Wixon School in South Dennis, Woodbury said.

"It is difficult to give eighth-graders everything they need when there is only 38 of them," Woodbury said.

School officials have hosted 25 informational meetings with parents about what the schools offer and what they would like to see in the future, she said.

Next fall, the school district plans to expand foreign language instruction to include Grade 6, Woodbury said. Currently, foreign language isn't offered until Grade 7 except at the Ezra Baker School, which offers an instructional pilot program in Spanish to students in grades K-3, she said.

Also next year, the school district proposes to add guidance counselors to Grade 6, Woodbury said.

Parents can take the opportunity today to see what the schools offer, as it is the last day of D-Y Advantage Community Week.

While parents are welcome to come into the schools anytime, student tour guides are available to take them around the buildings today, Woodbury said.

"If you're a parent who lives in Yarmouth, you may never have been in Wixon," she said.